A Grid of Black and White Squares
by Hasty
Summary: She wishes they could go back to the old days, when they were something like friends. Or, Lee, Zee and chess.


**So, I'm supposed to be working on a Halloween story, but you all get this instead. First half is pre-series, second half takes place sometime between Westbound and Toffee Time. I own nothing here.**

"Agent Lee, what are we doing?"

Zeta stomped along behind Agent Lee. It was a little curious, admittedly, since Bennett's orders were that it be deactivated between missions. It had just gone on it's first mission. Easy. Sneak in, kill as many as it could, meet the extraction team. They didn't have another mission already, did they?

"Your next mission is a bit more involved than the last one was. The object of your mission is known for his skill at chess. I thought I should teach you how to play."

Lee was half-lying. In reality, she was simply bored. Playing chess against the computers got old, and very few of the other agents could offer her anything close to a decent match. She also thought that Bennett's policy was a bit misguided. Without social interaction, Zeta's effectiveness would suffer.

"All the rules of chess have already been programmed in."  
"Yeah, well, there's a big difference between knowing the rules and playing the game," she replied. She set up the board and took two pawns, hiding them behind her back, switching them and presenting them hidden in her fists.

"Pick a hand."

Zeta considered and then indicated her left hand.

"All right, black. You know white moves first, right?"

"Yes."

"You want to reconsider?"

"Makes no difference."

"Ok," she said. She started with a simple bishop's pawn opening. Zeta moved a rook's pawn, after another careful consideration. It played conservatively, though occasionally it made surprising moves.

"It makes no sense to castle this early," she said once. "I'm not even close to a check."

"Why wait?" Zeta replied, startling her. She made a reckless move and was startled to realize it'd trapped her queen with it's knight. In four more moves, it took her queen, promoted a pawn to a queen, and swiftly had her in check.

"Good game," she said, when he got her in checkmate. "Want to play again?"

"Yes."

00

She taught it most of what she knew about chess. They played long games on the occasional stakeout, usually punctuated by Zeta efficiently disposing of the target of the stakeout and taking their place. Zeta scared her sometimes. It had a worrying preference of garrotes and chokeholds over guns, and she still woke from nightmares of their only mission together in New York, only in the dream she'd given the order to shoot the kid..and it turned the gun on her instead. The girl wasn't even part of the terrorist organization, she'd wanted them dead as badly as the NSA did.

In reality, it'd trussed the kid up per Lee's orders and left her on a rooftop with a small alarm that was guaranteed to attract Power Woman's attention. (The girl was still alive and well; she checked periodically.) She wasn't sure what scared her more- that Zeta would have used the gun, or that it would refuse. Zeta rarely seemed angry, mostly it was eerily calm.

She taught it all the variations of chess, including the rules to Wonderland chess, which some operative of MI-6 had dropped in her inbox. Every so often some young, technically inclined hot-shot from NATO, Interpol, MI-6 or Umoja (Africa's Interpol) broke in to the NSA's network and spammed everyone's inbox. Complaints were filed, firewalls upgraded, but the occasional incursion was all part of the game of politics.

At least the Wonderland chess rules were more interesting than the variants of 'Kilroy was here' that were usually left behind. Zeta initially seemed annoyed by the variant, but quickly warmed to it.

00

Zeta was _gone._ She wondered if something had triggered it's defection, if there had been signs she had missed. Everyone knew the Alpha series of Infiltration Units was a bit buggy. But this didn't seem like a bug, as there was no increase in aggression or a decrease in intelligence. And if Zeta had been reprogrammed, like Bennett thought, why wasn't he going after the team?

He could kill them all, easily, but he opted for escape time and again.

00

The real turning point was after West's train adventure. West had been in the baggage car, but the baggage car wasn't there anymore, so Zeta must have gotten him, Rowan and the dog out of the car. Further examination suggested that Zeta had unhooked the baggage car to save the train. Some terrorist.

Maybe Zeta had done it just to keep Rowan alive, but there were a hundred people besides her who were still alive because of his actions. Lee's still not sure what role Rowan plays. Pet? Little sister? Friend? She's not a hostage, that's for sure. Zeta's almost affectionate toward her, in a way he never was with any of his hostages. Except maybe Gibson, who turned into one of his staunchest defenders. Lee would like to write that off as a textbook case of Stockholm Syndrome, but deep down she can't bring herself to believe it.

She wishes they could go back to the old days, when things were simple and they were close to being something like friends. Everything had been black and white and laid out on a grid of squares. Now she's not sure what game they're playing, and the only thing that's certain is that both sides are going to lose.

 **This is a one shot, so it absolutely will not be continued. My other stories will be updated soonish, so watch this space.**


End file.
